Three Straight Draftees on the Mound

When 2002 Dodger draftee James McDonald takes the mound this evening in Arizona, it will mark the third straight starting pitcher drafted by the Dodgers. It may not seem like a big deal, but in fact it is quite rare.

The last time this happened was last September 23-25, when Chad Billingsley (2003) and Clayton Kershaw (2006) were followed by Eric Stults (2002).

However, before that the last time it happened was way back on September 17-19 1987, when Bob Welch (1977), Orel Hershiser (1979), and Shawn Hillegas (1984) started consecutive games.

7 months ago Eric Stephen 5 comments 0 recs |

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Kudos to BHSportsGuy

He inspired this research as he brought up the subject of consecutive games started by pitchers drafted by the Dodgers the other day.

by Eric Stephen on Apr 10, 2009 7:30 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

To be fair

I thought of this when I saw this coming up a week or so ago, then I checked last year when I realized that Stults was in the mix with Kershaw and Billingsley.

Now, there have been times when all 5 starters were initially signed by the Dodgers, for parts of the 1997 season, there was a rotation of Nomo, Valdes, Astacio, Martinez and Park.

by bhsportsguy on Apr 10, 2009 10:35 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow

That’s pretty surprising.

by Brendan Scolari on Apr 10, 2009 10:53 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

To the best of my knowledge

the Dodgers have never started four straight draftees. I thought I found a spot in 1979 but that group included Don Sutton, who was signed in 1964, one year before the draft was instituted. Sutton’s inclusion on the pitching staff from 1966-1980 pretty much eliminates all possibility of having four straight draftees start.

So maybe if Lindblom or Stults get called up to replace a DL’d Randy Wolf or something, the 2009 club can make Dodger history.